Disney, Here We Come!

Very shortly our family will be making our big trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. There will actually be 4 households all meeting up there. We are all very excited… though right now we are mostly focused on packing and getting everything settled before we leave our homes. Personally, I am thrilled that it worked out that we’ll be staying what was my first choice in hotel locations: Coronado Springs, a Disney Resort on property. Coronado had a great pool, playground, and an exercise gym (a bonus since I joined a gym early this summer and would really miss going over our trip). I’m a little worried that we’ll end up farther away from the main pool than we want, but the walking will be good too. The pictures we’ve seem online look beautiful. OK, I could go on and on….Interestingly, this will be our second Florida Holidays vacation. Our first was exactly 15 years ago for our honeymoon.

If you haven’t been but are thinking about it, the first thing to do is to visit Disney’s website and order the free DVD. (BTW – The cd-rom that comes with it is new and it seems to be still being developed. Your version might have more on it than ours did, so do check it out. It has great potential.) Then, while you wait for the DVD to arrive, search around the website to see videos of the resorts, get prices, etc.

If you decide to go, have fun and let us know how your trip was!

~200 pieces of trash

Yesterday as I walked home from taking our child to school, I decided it had been too many days since I had picked up trash. At least a week or more. About half way in the 1 mile trip, I figured I had about 50 pieces of trash already. I decided to count and see if I would get another 50 before I got home. Well, I got 50, then 100, then exactly 150. That plus the 50 or so that I didn’t count meant that there were over 200 pieces of trash between home and the school (I didn’t pick up everything). Some were large, some were small, but the full bag weighed in at between 3.5 and 4 pounds.

Travel Tip – Resealable Mesh or Plastic Bags

If packing suitcases for anything longer than a 4-day trip:
pack outfits or clothes of one type in mesh bags or use Zip-locks or simlar resealable bags.

For kids, pack whole outfits in a bag (top, bottom, underclothes/diaper, socks, accessories). Depending on the size of the bag and the season (summer clothes are smaller), you may be able to fit 2, 3, or more outfits rolled up separately in a bag. Remember, plastic bags can be a suffocation hazzard! Mesh bags are safer for kids.

For adults, if you use plastic bags (cheaper and easier to see contents, though not as cool) you’ll need at least 1-gallon sized bags, but 2-gallon bags can be even more useful. Pack all your undershirts in one. All your socks in another. Etc.

Later when you are searching for things, you can pull out a bag, get what you need, and put it back in the suitcase without having to reorganize everything.

Corny site has good info on Sleep

The National Sleep Foundation has a comprehensive site discussing sleep for all ages. The site is full of good articles, survey results, recommendations, and more. The only thing lacking on the site is its look and feel; it’s down right corny. Despite this, it’s worth checking out if you want to know more about sleep for yourself or your family.

Tonsils, Sleep Apnea, IQ, and Kids

Johns Hopkins just came out with a study last month about Sleep Apnea in children. About 2% of younger kids and teens have severe sleep apnea. While a common symptom is snoring or breathing through one’s mouth at night, the consequences run much deeper. These kids were found to have noticeably lower IQs and signs of actual brain damage. It’s not known yet if these effects are reversible. Further study will show how the kids do after the sleep apnea is treated. Treatment usually involves removing tonsils and adenoids – something that seems to be much more common these days. If you suspect your child might have sleep apnea, talk to your pediatrician. Below are 2 articles on the subject.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=50204&nfid=rssfeeds

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_37682.html

Budgeting by Percentages

There was a good article in the Washington Post on September 10 about creating a budget. The different thing about this article was that it actually gave percentage ranges for spending on different things. For example, housing costs (rent or mortgage, insurance, and related taxes) should be at approximately 27% of your annual take-home or after-tax income.
The article uses recommendations from Money Management International. I can’t vouch for them, but the information seems like a good place to start and something to shoot for.

Another week, another bag of trash

It’s Monday! Time to pick up the trash. Walked our child to school today and was amazed at how much trash had  accumulated. Thankfully I had a few bags stashed in the storage area of our younger child’s stroller, and on the way home I pulled one out and started filling it up. While we were still close to the school, a mom behind me mentioned that she needed to start bringing a bag to pick up trash. I asked if she would like one, that I had a few with me. She was very happy, took the bag, and was picking up trash immediately. We were at a corner where our paths parted, so between the two of us our neighborhood is a lot cleaner today.

The thing about it is that I felt a little funny picking up trash in front of other families walking back from school. But then I realized that if the trash just disappears, then they won’t think about it. But, if I picked up the trash in front of them, then they might keep an eye out for litter and people littering, they might remind their kids to put trash in the trash cans (and there are some along the way), and they might be more careful themselves. That was my thought, but the surprise and blessing, was having another parent volunteer themselves to help pick up what does get carelessly or intentionally dropped on the sidewalk and street. Whoever you are, dear person, thank you!

School’s In – Fundraisers are on

Our elementary schooler has only had 8 days of school so far and already she’s been stuck with two school fundraisers. What to do. They are good for the school, but I don’t like the tactics.

The first was Box Tops for Education (little rectangle symbols on top of some cereal and other food boxes – turn in the rectangle and the school earns 10 cents worth of supplies). That’s easy, but I turned in our box top collection on the first day of school! The school wanted 30 from each kid, and said kids would earn a prize for every 10 brought in. We scoured our pantry and found 17 more. Amazing. Sent her in with 10 so she could get her prize. Also coached her saying that some kids will get 3 prizes, some will get 2, some will get 1, and some will get none. It’s all ok. She seemed to understand and later was thrilled about the one new pencil she received. Good.

But if it’s ok, why was I worrying about making sure she’d at least get something… I guess I hate for her to feel left out. But now it’s not about raising money for the school, but about getting my kid more stuff (which she doesn’t need) so she doesn’t feel left out.

The next program was a basically a Read-A-Thon. The kids try to read for 300 minutes in one week. Meanwhile families pick 10 folks to ask as sponsors. The sponsor receives a letter from the child and either sponsors by the minute, makes a flat donation, or throws the letter away. Ten is a lot of sponsors… you want to choose people who really care about your child, who don’t have kid’s of their own with their own fundraisers, who won’t feel financial strained, and who won’t be offended by being included. If your child doesn’t send all 10 letters then they don’t get the 2 prizes (much more significant prizes this time). If you want to participate but not send the letters, you need to contribute $50 (tax deductible).

All in all, I like the idea of a fundraiser where you don’t have to buy overpriced items that you wouldn’t normally buy. I’d rather the money go to the school. And reading is a tough cause to knock. But – this tactic of tempting kids with prizes and making kids feel left out if the parents don’t participate is pretty low. It’s only just starting.

Car moved out of sidewalk

Hooray! – Remember the car that was parked in a driveway blocking the sidewalk on our way to school? It’s been moved! Now we need to work on those intruding plants!

Hmmmmm… Hawaii

Hawaii. Even though we are excited to be going to Disney World, our dream vacation is actually Hawaii. But we probably will wait until our toddler is a bit older before we go with the kids. Or, maybe we should wait so we can go without the kids. Was just looking at a site that helps you plan your Maui Wedding. If we were to do it over again, maybe that’s how we would do it, maybe. But just looking at the site made me want to go. Hmmmmmm.

Hermit Crab moved

Our Hermit Crab has been so active since we changed to a new sand and later added a branch for climbing. Yesterday, however he became a hermit again, and today he changed shells back to an old one he used for at least a year. Don’t know why I’m so fascinated with him… except that he’s alive, one of God’s Creatures, and it’s my job to take care of him.

Cheetos Bags & Trash, Blocked Sidewalks, Walking to School

So it’s September and I’m walking our daughter to school. I have two gripes.

First – the trash. How can someone finish a snack-size bag of Cheetos and then just drop the bag on the ground? A can of Coke? We cleaned up what we could late last week… but it’s building up again.

Second – Blocked sidewalks. Not only are we walking an older child to school, but I’m also pushing a little one in a stroller. We are grateful for our neighborhood’s sidewalks, but sometimes they are carelessly blocked. Hazards include (A) trashcans and recycling bins (OK, we never put our can or bins on the sidewalk, but sometimes they are put there after being emptied, and I don’t always get to retrieving them ASAP – I’ll work on that one myself), (B) parking your car in your driveway so that the sidewalk is blocked when there is lots of space left to pull up, and (C) trees, ground cover, or other plants that significantly intrude on the space needed to walk.

So… keep an eye on your sidewalks, be a good citizen when you park your cars, and don’t litter and remind your kids what to do with their trash. Thanks for listening.